More than 800 people have been arrested in 18 countries after law enforcement from various countries got together to perform what has been called an “unprecedented” sting.

The sting, an operation that was the brainchild of the FBI and Australian police that goes back to 2018, certainly warrants that accolade. Reports today state that after two major encrypted messaging platforms used by criminals were taken down, there was a need for something new. The FBI saw an opportunity.

The agency enlisted a former developer who had worked for an encryption service in Canada called Phantom Secure. That service was taken down, after which the FBI made the developer a deal he couldn’t refuse. That was to help the agency distribute a new “secure” platform called ANOM. According to documents, he was given a reduced prison sentence and $120,000.

Once that deal was in place, phones carrying the app were distributed among criminals all over the world. The phones were basically useless for most needs but had a calculator app that after a code was entered would offer an encrypted messaging service.

Leading crime figures used the phones, which instilled confidence in others, and soon ANOM was being used by crime figures for the trafficking of drugs, arms and explosives, and for discussions about contract killings. Documents also talked about “high-level public corruption.”

More than 27 million messages in 45 languages were intercepted, with the offenders running the gamut of organized crime. That spanned from organized crime in Italy, what’s sometimes referred to as the Sicilian mafia, to cartels in Mexico, Asian Triad gangs, Australian outlaw motorcycle gangs and an array of criminals all over Europe.

Reports state that in Sweden 155 people were arrested by Europol, which may have prevented the murders of 10 people. In Australia, 200 were arrested, one named Hakan Ayik, who was said to be a kingpin in the criminal world. He was one of the gangsters who first recommended the app. A further 49 people were arrested in the Netherlands and an additional 60 people in Germany.

In all, 12,000 devices used the app by 300 various organized crime groups in 100 countries. That led to raids all over the world and the seizure of tons of drugs, $148 million in cash, cryptocurrencies, weapons and expensive cars.

The app also allowed photos to be sent, with one of them showing law enforcement “hundreds of tons of cocaine that were concealed in shipments of fruit.” “We have been in the back pockets of organized crime,” said Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw. “All they talk about is drugs, violence, hits on each other, innocent people who are going to be murdered, a whole range of things.”

Photo: houstondwiattorney/Flickr